In what medium do you compose?

[Tzara]

Traditionally, poets wrote in fountain pen on cream paper.

Or, at least in my dream world they did.

While I won't say I've never written a poem in ink, be it ball pen, quill pen, soft tip, or that kind of slinky gel stuff that just flows slimily out of the pen, I have mostly composed poetry (yes, yes, we can argue whether I ever actually have composed, in actual fact, a poem) on a computer, in a word processing program.

I write, when I write, in (to be specific about it) Microsoft Word. Sometimes in Notepad.

Like there's much of a difference.

But I've seen a shift among poemic contributors. Some people are now saying that they've written their poems on their phones. (That always makes me wonder about the editing process, as I would not want to revise something on my iPhone.)

My first thought about that of statement always is, well, you're not serious then, are you?

But then Angeline tells us here, that she writes poems on her tablet computer.

And I have to reconsider, as Angie is an excellent poet.

So, tell me, poets. In what medium (paper, computer, tablet, phone, or something else) do you prefer to compose your poems? And why?

 

[Angeline]

Thank you for the kind words. I got this Nook a few months ago (and have already spent way too much on books I could've gotten a whole lot cheaper at Alibris). To me, it is perfect for poem composing because I can carry it anywhere and, when I start composing in my head like always--I'm always thinking in poetry--I can write it down. Some of you may recall that I'm left-handed (that's cack-handed to UYS), and my handwriting is a smeary wreck. So the Nook is neater if slower. And I probably don't edit as much as when I'm writing at my desktop computer though I do try to catch the big booboos.

Mostly though I love that I can be pretty much anywhere and write what comes to me and not have a blue hand when I'm done writing.

ETA: I love fountain pens, too, but they don't love me back...

 

[PandoraGlitters]

I totally get the smeary hand thing, Angeline. I was left-handed until 1st grade when kindly Mrs. Carson spanked my hand every time I went to write and put the giant pencil log into the right hand. I still write like a lefthander but with my right hand. It's odd and barely legible.

So my medium is here. Makes me finish things if I have to post them. Songs are different. Those I sing into my phone as I walk.

Sounds like you really have found poetry Heaven, Angeline, and you're outfitted, besides!

 

[Desejo]

This is something I have thought about a lot. I think the medium one uses has enormous influence on the end product. Much like learning a foreign language changes the way in which one thinks in unexpected ways.

Word processing makes it easy to backspace/erase, move entire sentences and spell check. This is all much more difficult on paper (akin to that horror - the card catalog in the library. Thank god for hyperlinks). I know I pay much more time to format, word play and rewriting simply because it is so easy.

I think the next jump will come when we no longer type or write, but speak or physically manipulate words somehow. Imagine what that would do to poetry/writing/ communication?

I find it difficult to write in longhand. My handwriting is terrible and because it suits my thinking style (or maybe my thinking has adapted to the computer. Who knows?). I have also written on my phone when an idea has come to me suddenly - but I usually transfer the file back to my computer to finish it.

My kids write only on ipads and in some strange language vaguely resembling English but without vowels in SMS messages.

 

[Angeline]

I think Desejo has an important point about it being easier not to write in longhand: who wouldn't want the advantages of backspace and delete? I know that those kind of editing functions have helped me be a better writer. I remember when people typed with carbon paper, and the IBM Selectric (not to mention correcting fluid and tape) were a big deal. Back then a mistake was a mistake, damnit! None of this homogenized one-touch fixing that makes me forget what dumb mistakes I make along the drafting way to poemhood! And then I think that Ginsburg wrote Howl and Kaddish in longhand or on old school typewriters and Donne (for example) probably used a quill and paper was made well, not easily, then.

I will say this about writing from the Nook. I suspect it is, by the necessity of having to go slower and more carefully when writing, making me write poems that are less adorned, more spare if you will. And that imho is a very good thing.

 

[Vixen96]

Hi all - not having actually published one of my poems on this forum (although I have poetry on the internet elsewhere) I am not sure I consider myself a 'poet'.

However, if churning out a heck of a lot of the stuff with varying degrees of quality means I can contribute to this forum (and I hope it does), I make a habit of carrying around a notebook everywhere I go. I do that just in case I see something beautiful, terrible or strange enough to write about.

So I almost always write poetry with paper and a pen, usually in a tatty notebook or sometimes on a scrap of paper or napkin or whatever I can find if I don't have paper and pen to hand. I am rarely successful if I try to write a poem at a computer, although that is where I would write all of my stories....

As I say, just tuppence worth from a closet poet.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I have bits of paper here there and everywhere with jottings down as the thought takes me. I used to write on my old PC but have not got the hang of it yet on this laptop but I'm working on it (not helped by the fact I've broken the 'W'..... it's surprising how much it needs using!

 

[Angeline]

I have bits of paper here there and everywhere with jottings down as the thought takes me. I used to write on my old PC but have not got the hang of it yet on this laptop but I'm working on it (not helped by the fact I've broken the 'W'..... it's surprising how much it needs using!

Well there's a challenge. You could write a poem without any w's. (Yeah I know, I hate myself for suggesting it, too).

 

[Angeline]

I have bits of paper here there and everywhere with jottings down as the thought takes me. I used to write on my old PC but have not got the hang of it yet on this laptop but I'm working on it (not helped by the fact I've broken the 'W'..... it's surprising how much it needs using!

Double post so I'll try it as penance.

My left sinistral
hand, peachy pink
tipped nails beachy
tapping 2 fingered
tripping the keys fantastic
Sun draining the day
when Captain Saint
Lucifer arrives bearing

more heat. Grinning. One
hot dog con mustard
chopped onion bbq
chips scream summer
Summer, SUMMER.

 

[bogusagain]

I often write poems in my sketch book. I have a couple of models that come round to my studio now and again (not at the same time) for life study and although I don't really do anything with the drawings, I like the discipline but sometimes I get bored and write a poem or two or at least ideas that later develop into a poem. I have been embarrassed on the odd occasion when I've been asked to show my drawings and its all writing. I also often have lunch in the bar across the road and I always have my pocket sketchbook with me to doodle ideas but 50% of it are ideas for poetry. Sometimes I get round to transferring ideas I can develop onto the computer and actually try to finish them off.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Double post so I'll try it as penance.

My left sinistral
hand, peachy pink
tipped nails beachy
tapping 2 fingered
tripping the keys fantastic
Sun draining the day
when Captain Saint
Lucifer arrives bearing

more heat. Grinning. One
hot dog con mustard
chopped onion bbq
chips scream summer
Summer, SUMMER.

Applause! and about your cack hand too

 

[bronzeage]

I write with whatever is handy, on what paper is near. Later, I transfer it to digital files for editing.

I try to tuck all notes under my keyboard, but I am always finding scraps of paper in my suit jacket. Sometimes I don't remember them, which shows the true value in writing when the thought is fresh.

 

[sr71plt]

With me, it's got to be the computer. I can't read my own handwriting even when I'm taking the time to try to make it legible and my handwriting can't keep up with my thought processes.

 

[Angeline]

Applause! and about your cack hand too

It is harder to write a poem where every words starts with the same letter than to just leave one letter out (though admittedly w is easier to lose than, say, e or r or even d or g: no gerunds!).

All my cackie parts love you, too, Annie.

 

[ninianne]

I write almost exclusively on the computer--but when I edit I need to have it printed out and a pen in hand (not necessarily red ink). I do jot ideas on scrap paper and when I'm taking notes for class--in fact, I use only one side of the page for notes the other side is exclusively for inspiration or doodles.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

Vixen, I look forward to reading your poems here. Please do share! I enjoyed the erotic poems you posted on that thread. Look forward to some of your originals. Everyone's poems vary in quality. This is being alive.

 

[oggbashan]

I have a reporters notepad (the ones spirally bound at the top that you can flip pages over) with me most of the time.

I use it for composing my speeches for public meetings, taking notes and action points at committee meetings I attend. For those purposes I use a Parker biro. I have two in my shirt pocket almost always.

If the meeting is boring, or while I'm waiting to give my speech, I doodle or compose poetry. For both I use a 2B pencil. 2B gives a black image and can be easily erased with a soft eraser (UK=rubber) to make corrections.

The first stories I posted on Literotica came from reporters notebooks and were transcribed on to my computer in the evenings. For some of the longer stories I used several notebooks. My draft poems rarely exceeded a page.

One advantage of using the notebooks is that very, very few people can read my writing so I can write erotica in a crowded room without causing offence. My former secretaries and my wife are the only people who could read my written screeds. My daughters can't.

 

[greenmountaineer]

This is something I have thought about a lot. I think the medium one uses has enormous influence on the end product. Much like learning a foreign language changes the way in which one thinks in unexpected ways.

Word processing makes it easy to backspace/erase, move entire sentences and spell check. This is all much more difficult on paper (akin to that horror - the card catalog in the library. Thank god for hyperlinks). I know I pay much more time to format, word play and rewriting simply because it is so easy.

I think the next jump will come when we no longer type or write, but speak or physically manipulate words somehow. Imagine what that would do to poetry/writing/ communication?

I find it difficult to write in longhand. My handwriting is terrible and because it suits my thinking style (or maybe my thinking has adapted to the computer. Who knows?). I have also written on my phone when an idea has come to me suddenly - but I usually transfer the file back to my computer to finish it.

My kids write only on ipads and in some strange language vaguely resembling English but without vowels in SMS messages.

This. Some nerve damage in my writing hand has turned me back into the "Sloppy Joe" Sister Mary Hughes called me in the second grade when reviewing my penmanship. Of course, she completely ignored that I was left-handed and we had to write with fountain pens, my palm thus pressing and smearing the words as I put them to paper.

My iPad has proven to be a wonderful tool, and when I'm out and about, I use my smaller iTouch to edit. I merely have to pull it out of my pocket to start working. With "the cloud" anything I write automatically syncs with the other device as long as I'm in a coffee shop that has wifi.

 

[GuiltyPleasure]

I've found many of my ideas come to me at night and, no matter how hard I try to preserve them, are gone in the morning. It's inconvenient to turn on the light, pick up a pen and jot it down so I have a small tape recorder on my bedside table. It's full of random ideas that I can transfer to my computer or dip into at will.

 

[Tzara]

Interesting responses, all.

I tried typing on a notepad-like app on my Kindle Fire, but found it irritatingly clumsy probably either because of the lack of tactile feedback or that the keyboard image was too small. I am not a touch typist, though fairly fast for someone who doesn't have any training (about 45 wpm), but my hands wander around on the keyboard and I think that gets worse without the feel of the keys, perhaps because if I strike a physical key a bit off due to my hand drifting around, I can detect that and correct my location on the keyboard.

I suppose that I would get better at typing on the tablet with time, but I think I would still prefer a keyboard and mouse (or similar pointing device). A larger tablet (iPad, for example) would also be better--i.e., easier to type on. I'd be curious to try the Microsoft Surface when it's released to see how I felt about its quasi-keyboard. My iPhone doesn't work at all--I lose track of what I'm trying to compose because I have to concentrate so much on picking out the letters for each word.

I was being a bit disingenuous in saying that I didn't write with ink on paper. I sometimes write lines or scraps of poems on notepads (paper ones, that is) and come back to work on them later on the computer. Sometimes I compose things in my head and memorize them until I can get to a computer, though I'm usually not very far from a computer, as I work in the software industry.

I find it interesting so many of you are left-handed. A dominant right brain hemisphere might suggest a talent for imagery as opposed to analysis.

 

[Vixen96]

Vixen, I look forward to reading your poems here. Please do share! I enjoyed the erotic poems you posted on that thread. Look forward to some of your originals. Everyone's poems vary in quality. This is being alive.

Thank you so much for the words of encouragement! I am delighted you enjoyed the poems I posted, they are two of my favourites.

I will sort through and see what I think might be post-worthy - or even write something new - I will try to post something tonight *gulps nervously*

 

[Angeline]

Interesting responses, all.

I tried typing on a notepad-like app on my Kindle Fire, but found it irritatingly clumsy probably either because of the lack of tactile feedback or that the keyboard image was too small. I am not a touch typist, though fairly fast for someone who doesn't have any training (about 45 wpm), but my hands wander around on the keyboard and I think that gets worse without the feel of the keys, perhaps because if I strike a physical key a bit off due to my hand drifting around, I can detect that and correct my location on the keyboard.

I suppose that I would get better at typing on the tablet with time, but I think I would still prefer a keyboard and mouse (or similar pointing device). A larger tablet (iPad, for example) would also be better--i.e., easier to type on. I'd be curious to try the Microsoft Surface when it's released to see how I felt about its quasi-keyboard. My iPhone doesn't work at all--I lose track of what I'm trying to compose because I have to concentrate so much on picking out the letters for each word.

I was being a bit disingenuous in saying that I didn't write with ink on paper. I sometimes write lines or scraps of poems on notepads (paper ones, that is) and come back to work on them later on the computer. Sometimes I compose things in my head and memorize them until I can get to a computer, though I'm usually not very far from a computer, as I work in the software industry.

I find it interesting so many of you are left-handed. A dominant right brain hemisphere might suggest a talent for imagery as opposed to analysis.

Interesting about the cack-handed (I just like saying that) thing. When I edit my poems, I doubt there are many people more analytical than me: I can't help myself as editing for a living gets one looking at lines in a different, more analytical way. An editor-mentor once told me editing would "ruin reading and writing for you," and she was sorta right. It's hard for me to just enjoy reading and not look for things to fix. And I love reading so it's a constant struggle not to get hung up on "what's wrong with this line?"

But. When I am drafting, in pre-edit mode I feel like I am translating senses into poetry, trying to find the precise words to communicate what I see, hear, touch, etc., in my mind's eye. I wonder if other cackies have this sensation.

 

[PandoraGlitters]

But. When I am drafting, in pre-edit mode I feel like I am translating senses into poetry, trying to find the precise words to communicate what I see, hear, touch, etc., in my mind's eye. I wonder if other cackies have this sensation.

Yes. I do. Though I don't know if I qualify as one of the cakies anymore since Mrs. Carson was successful in her anti-lefty crusade. Well more or less.

Last night at the Bowery Poetry Club (which was the last open mic there, kinda sad) I saw people reading from ipads for the first time. Now I had not been there in years, so maybe this has been going on for some time, but this would give evidence to a new medium as being fairly common among poets, or at least among poets who perform their poetry.

I only compose here. If here is ever gone, I do not know that I will ever compose. This is what has brought me back here, even at some significant personal discomfort. It is, for me, compose here or not at all.

 

[Tzara]

Interesting about the cack-handed (I just like saying that) thing. When I edit my poems, I doubt there are many people more analytical than me: I can't help myself as editing for a living gets one looking at lines in a different, more analytical way. An editor-mentor once told me editing would "ruin reading and writing for you," and she was sorta right. It's hard for me to just enjoy reading and not look for things to fix. And I love reading so it's a constant struggle not to get hung up on "what's wrong with this line?"

But. When I am drafting, in pre-edit mode I feel like I am translating senses into poetry, trying to find the precise words to communicate what I see, hear, touch, etc., in my mind's eye. I wonder if other cackies have this sensation.

I didn't mean to imply the right-brain dominance meant one was not analytical. Hemispheric dominance is not either/or--it's typically a blend of skills. I was merely speculating that someone with right-brain dominance might have an easier (more "natural") way of thinking in images rather than in symbols. I'm actually not sure if left-handedness is a correlate of right hemispheric dominance, anyway, though it seems to me like it should be.

Part of what I was thinking about was how I have a hard time trying to come up with images. I have a tendency to "think" my way through a poem, rather than experience it as concrete imagery. Some of the better images/lines actually come to me when I am half-asleep.

I don't know. I've seen some things that suggest that left-handers are disproportionately artistic types (and, oddly, mathematicians). If you're curious, here's a short test to estimate which is your dominant hemisphere. I come out left-brained by a factor of two to one.

 

[Tzara]

Last night at the Bowery Poetry Club (which was the last open mic there, kinda sad) I saw people reading from ipads for the first time. Now I had not been there in years, so maybe this has been going on for some time, but this would give evidence to a new medium as being fairly common among poets, or at least among poets who perform their poetry.

I can understand an iPad being a convenient way to read poetry--it's light, easy to read, and you don't have to carry around either a stack of dog-eared sheets of paper or a broken-backed paperback book festooned with bookmarks.

On the other hand, the formatting can be questionable. I bought an e-copy of Kim Addonizio's Lucifer at the Starlite for my Kindle to see how the formatting looked. Really lousy on my e-ink (original) Kindle--lines wrapped all over the place, making the poems difficult to read. The Fire is better, because I can turn it sideways (landscape mode) to stop the constant wrapping of lines (though I suspect Jorie Graham's or C.K. Williams' poems would still wrap because of their especially long line length). I would still get odd stanza breaks, though--apparently the formatting software does not have (or whoever coded this book didn't use) tags to keep stanzas together at page breaks.

Why I still buy all my poetry in book format.